CHICAGO (IL)
Mother Jones
August 10, 2018
By Becca Andrews
Willow Creek Community Church and Bill Hybels were untouchable. Now the entire leadership team at the iconic megachurch has stepped down, setting a significant precedent.
Earlier this week, in what is the most significant response to sexual abuse allegations in an evangelical church since the start of the #ChurchToo movement—or, arguably, ever—the lead pastor and the entire board of elders of Willow Creek Community Church, a deeply influential nondenominational megachurch in the Chicago suburbs, resigned in front of their congregation.
The moves, which happened in a special congregational meeting Wednesday night, were in response to allegations of sexual abuse and harassment against the church’s founding pastor, Bill Hybels, and to the ways the church had essentially turned a blind eye for nearly five years. In the meeting this week, lead pastor Heather Larson announced to thousands of congregants—Willow Creek is home to some 25,000 members, making it the fifth-largest megachurch in the country—that she would resign immediately, and Missy Rasmussen, an elder, announced that she and eight of her peers were stepping down because, she said, “Willow needs and deserves a fresh start.” Rasmussen apologized to each of the women who reported misconduct.
“To all the women who have come forward, we are sorry that we added to your pain,” Rasmusssen said. “We are sorry that our initial statements were so insensitive, defensive, and reflexively protective of Bill. We exhort Bill to acknowledge his sin and publicly apologize.”
Hybels has been publicly accused by multiple women of sexual abuse and harassment over the past several months, with some sharing their stories in the Chicago Tribune and Christianity Today. But still, after the stories were published in March, Hybels’ position as something of an evangelical superstar—he’s written several books about Christian leadership, was a spiritual adviser to President Bill Clinton, and created the high-profile two-day Christian confab, the Global Leadership Conference—largely continued without serious challenge from church leadership. And this was not the first time allegations were brought against Hybels; internal inquiries into his behavior actually began about four years ago.
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